Paris (AFP)
35 years of electroacoustic creations resonate at the Philharmonie de Paris, where the studio of Pierre Henry, the master of "concrete music" who died in July 2017, was recreated in an interactive permanent exhibition.
"It looks like it will happen": Isabelle Warnier, widow of the composer, salutes the precision with which his studio was reconstituted at the Museum of Music. Sitting at the entrance, the imposing analog mixer studded with buttons was the position from which the precursor of electronic music gave concerts at home.
He had transformed his home into "House of sounds" and played for 10,000 music lovers between 1996 and 2010. A video can virtually visit this warm shambles, destroyed in 2018 despite petitions for its safeguard.
Aligned on the side, eight tape recorders recall Pierre Henry's love for magnetic tapes, on which he recorded and mixed the sounds of nature and its environment to make "concrete music".
"He was the point of contact between scholarly music and popular music" says Marie-Pauline Martin, director of the Museum of Music, who wanted to "devote" electronic music in this exhibition where the viewer learns through manipulation.
Desks with bright buttons invite to fiddle sounds and triturate the music to learn the art of mixing and remixing, before comparing its result to that of the master.
Deceased at 89, the author of the famous "Mass of the present time" founded the Research Group of Concrete Music (GRMC) on French Radio-Television with Pierre Schaeffer in 1950. He took advantage of advanced instruments to laying the foundations of contemporary electronic music, before founding APSOME, the first private studio devoted to experimental music.
For nearly a quarter of a century, he self-financed his activities by writing movies, stage and advertising music.
For educational purposes, the Pierre Henry studio is open to school groups every morning. It is open to the public from Wednesday to Friday from 12H to 18H and the weekend from 10H to 18H. Entry 8 €.
© 2019 AFP